


Play Fighting

by pencilxpaper



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora and Catra know noting about sex, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fun, Glitra sleepover, Post-Canon, Shower Sex, Smut, Virgin Adora, Virgin Catra, happy catra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:15:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pencilxpaper/pseuds/pencilxpaper
Summary: Moments later, despite all the big talk, that night was as weird as the one before. Awkward getting ready. Awkward getting into bed. Awkward eye contact.  Catra realized Adora was staring at her in the dark. Adora whispered, "Lovers?""Lovers," Catra said back. She didn't know why they were whispering. No one was close enough to hear them. It was a habit gained from years of living in barracks."Lovers...." Adora repeated, more to herself than to Catra, finally breaking eye contact.-or-A story where Catra gets ahold of a book that explains things and Adora is completely unprepared for that.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 551





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The smut is in chapter 3.

Adora opened the doors wide, dragging Catra in by the hand. "This is our room. Isn't it great! The waterfall is not for showering. They have a real shower in the corner."

Something in the way Adora said "our room" made Catra happy, but the room around her squashed it. "It's big."

"Lots of room for making it whatever we need. To prepare for princess prom, I set up an obstacle course."

Catra put her hands on her hips, and smiled, "You would." She looked over the rest of the room. "It's so quiet too. I mean, the waterfall is nice for some white noise, but-" She shrugged. She didn't know what she was trying to say.

Adora, with her puppy dog energy and sweet eyes, grabbed Catra by the hands. "If you don't like it we'll move, but I think you will. It took me a few days to get comfortable. I mean, the bed was super fluffy. I had them switch it out for something harder. If you want we can switch it back."

Catra smiled. "I'm not walking in here and making any demands yet. I'm just happy to have a place to sleep."

Adora pulled Catra in closer, her face practically sparkling. "I'm just so excited you're here, finally."

Catra looked Adora in those beautiful hopeful eyes and felt her heart ping in her chest. It was the way she said "finally", like it was always part of the plan.

Adora's eyebrow cocked, as she smiled knowingly. "Oh no, there you go again. I think you like me."

Catra glared. "Of course I like you. I confessed and everything."

"How embarrassing for you," Adora said, teasing.

Catra's glare turned into a smile as she saw an invitation that was all too familiar. She pounced, and Adora fell to the ground grappling and laughing. With saving the world, and celebrating this whole time, they really hadn't had a chance to be together alone. Catra found herself flipped on her back, Adora's ponytail fell out, her hair draping down. They both slowly stopped laughing, their eyes met, and both felt a tug deep in their core. They both went still, unable to break eye contact. Adora leaned in closer, and realized soon afterward that doing so made her heart race. She wanted to kiss Catra, but it didn't feel the same as it did at the Heart.

Catra wanted to be kissed, and the thought made a spark shoot down her spine.

"You really know how to sweep a girl off her feet," Adora said breathlessly as she moved in to close the space between them. Their lips touched, and both felt a jolt that neither were expecting. Adora pulled back, suddenly unsure of herself. This new feeling was foreign.

Catra buried her feelings with a smile and a joke, "What, big old She-ra's afraid of a kiss? How embarrassing for you."

The tone was relieving, and she gently pushed Catra's face to the side. "You're the one who should be embarrassed. You're blushing."

Catra fake struggled, before offering, "So are you, princess."

They both laughed, happy to have the tension cut, but the laugh ended and they were still on the floor, with Adora's pinning Catra, and neither knew what to do. "So, do you want to kiss again?" Adora asked innocently.

"Yes." The answer was always going to be yes, and Adora smiled as she leaned in again, but this time the kiss caused them both to feel warm.

Catra needed to be closer to Adora like she needed air, and she moved instinctually to pull Adora in.

Adora was caught by surprise, but let out a moan that surprised them both. "What are we doing?" Adora asked as she felt herself drawn to Catra's scent.

"Kissing?"

"It's a really good kiss." Adora closed the gap, slotting her lips into Catra's.

Catra's claws extended, and she curled her fingers into Adora's back. She wanted to grip her so she could never leave. She wanted to bit her lip so she could never pull back. She wanted to rip Adora to shreds. The thought flashed past her mind, and she froze, scared of her own instincts.

Adora had her own urges flashing through her mind that she didn't quite understand. She couldn't explain the urgency she felt to grab Catra or hold her hard. All of the time and distance between them, and Adora wanted to affix Catra right there, and not let her go. Without thinking, one of her hands gripped Catra's wrist and held it to the floor. Catra's tail went stiff, her eyes wide, and Adora pulled back, shocked at herself more than Catra's reaction. "I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that."

Catra, for once, was glad Adora stopped. She was sure, pure sweet Adora thought the grip had made her uncomfortable, but that wasn't it. There was something about Adora being possessive that sent another jolt straight to her lower stomach. The desire to shred, hold, and never let go was strong.

"Are you ok?" Adora looked so worried.

"I... I don't know. I just-" She couldn't explain it, and she wasn't going to admit to Adora what she was thinking. "I'm tired."

Adora pulled herself back to sit up, and reached out a hand to help Catra up. "Me too. Maybe we don't need to rush into playfighting like we used to."

Catra took Adora's hand to get up, and said more to herself than Adora, "That was nothing like what we used to do."

Adora pretended not to hear it, but she agreed. She didn't know what that was, and if she was being honest with herself, the whole thing was terrifying.

They both threw themselves into what they assumed was the casual and partially domestic act of getting ready for bed. Catra found the bathroom to get changed, and Adora dressed and climbed into bed. She closed her eyes, trying not to think about what had just happened. Her eyes shot open when she felt a familiar warmth at her feet. She sat up to find Catra curling up like she had when they were little. "Don't you want to sleep up here with me?" Adora threw the blanket aside for emphasis.

Catra looked up with a little surprise. "Sure." She got up, and climbed into the bed next to Adora, and they sat facing each other. This was different. Not like it had been on the ship. "This is weird right?" Catra whispered.

Adora leaned in. "A little, but it's ok."

"Is it supposed to feel weird?"

Adora gently touched Catra's arm and pulled her hand into her chest. It was as much to comfort herself as it was to comfort Catra. "I don't know. " She paused, rubbing Catra's fingers. A warmth started in Adora again, and she got nervous. "Let’s just try to sleep tonight. We have time for it not to feel weird."

Catra nodded, and they both closed their eyes to avoid the awkwardness that was growing between them.

***

The next day was full of activity, enough to keep their minds preoccupied. There were celebrations planned all over Etheria, and She-ra was being asked to be at all of them. Glimmer was kind enough to transport her from one party to the next. The others had decided they had enough parties and wanted to stay home.

The last celebration of the day wasn't too far from home. Adora had her speeches memorized and was going through the motions just to get it all over with. After all the handshaking, congratulations, and having to turn down a few advances, Adora was finally free to find Glimmer and go home.

"You've been going non-stop all day," Glimmer said with a hint of worry. "The sun's setting, don't you want to rest a bit and watch the sunset?" She pulled Adora out to the balcony, and they both relaxed into a view of a bay bathed in oranges, yellows, and purples.

Adora uttered a thank you and settled into watching colors slowly changing, and the darkness taking over the sky. Adora couldn't stop thinking about Catra on the floor under her, and feeling weird about the weird feeling that welled up in her when it happened. For good measure, she felt guilty about grabbing Catra's wrist.

"Adora, are you ok?" Glimmer leaned in and nudged Adora's shoulder.

"I'm fine." She thought better about lying. "I'm not fine. I mean, I am, things are great."

"So somethings wrong?"

Adora leaned on the railing, putting her head in her hands. It was a struggle to try to put the mismatch of feelings and visions running through her head into words. The best she could manage is, "I don't know what I'm doing with Catra."

Glimmer pulled back, a little shocked, "Like, you don't know why you're with her, or that you don't know what you are doing when you're with her? If it's the first one, I completely understand."

"The second one. I'm new to all this. It's so weird." Adora looked up, considered Glimmer for a moment. "I mean when you and Bow sleep in the same bed, is it weird?"

Glimmer's back straightened, and her eyes got wide. "We don't share a bed."

"Oh... why not?"

"I mean, we just now started being more than just friends. It takes time to build up to stay the night, and honestly, I think my dad would kill me if he found out." She sighed.

Adora couldn't help the confused look on her face.

Glimmer patted Adora on the back. "I realize you didn't have a good parent figure, but normally they don't like seeing their children grow up too fast, and since I think the last time my dad saw me was when I was small, he doesn't realize I'm an adult. Besides that, I'm not sure I'm ready to have that kind of intimacy yet."

"Oh," was all Adora could manage to say as she looked back out to the sunset.

Glimmer rubbed Adora's back and gave her an assuring smile. "Don't worry. I'm sure all the weirdness is just adjustment. Give yourselves time. Honestly, it's got to be weird for her too. Things being a weird kind of normal, where you don't really know what you're supposed to do anymore and you'd wish he'd just say something."

"Uh, are we still talking about Catra, or are we talking about Bow?"

"Oh... I guess both..." Glimmer's face grimaced. "It's just since we've gotten back, it's like nothings changed. I mean, it all happened so fast, but I kind of expected him to- I don't know- do something."

Adora felt a pang of guilt as she realized she had been in a pitty party while Glimmer was having a similar crisis. Time to offer some support. "Have you guys kissed?"

"Not since we won..." Glimmer's shoulders fell.

Adora leaned in and pulled Glimmer into a hug. "Well, at least I feel better that it's not just me."

"Honestly, me too." Glimmer put an arm around Adora and leaned her head on her shoulder.

***

For the whole day, while Adora and Glimmer were out galavanting across the globe, Catra found herself following Bow around. They hadn't known each other for long, but he exuded a sense of knowing his way in the world. It was that kind of sense of self that Catra desperately wanted. She planted herself on a ledge and looked over his shoulder as his communicator buzzed.

"Oh, it's my Dads," He said with a smile as he hit accept, and a video of them both appeared.

"BOW!" Lance yelled. "It's so good to see you!"

George had to move the camera to include him. "We're here with your things. We'll need help unloading."

"Awesome! I'll be down in a minute." He turned off the communicator. "Catra, you want to help move my things?"

She had nothing better to do.

In a moment they were downstairs, helping unload a surprising amount of books. George and Lance fawned over Bow and engulfed him. It almost hurt her teeth it was so sickly sweet to watch. It was also kind of nice. They both kissed Bow on the cheeks before heading out, claiming they had a celebration to go to. Bow waved them off with a dumb smile on his face.

Catra picked up a box of books and started following Bow back into the building. "You're dads seem nice. Looks like you won the family lottery."

"They're great. You know, they thought I was going to be a historian, and I was terrified of telling them I wanted to be a warrior. When I finally told them, you know what they did?"

"Punish you with magic and throw you in a cell for your own good?"

Bow looked back, worried, "No Catra. No parents should do that."

"Tell Shadow Weaver that, please. Oh wait, never mind, she's dead." A smile crossed her lips.

"They accepted my decision and supported me."

"Again, won the freakin' lottery." Catra noticed they passed Glimmer's room. "Wait, you've missed it."

Bow stopped and looked back at Catra, standing next to Glimmer's door. "Missed what?"

Catra adjusted the box to throw a thumb toward the room. "Her Highness sleeps here right?"

"Oh, we're not-" He shrunk in as he looked around so see if anyone heard. "Her dad would have a fit."

Catra looked back at him, amazed. "And you're going to just let that happen? Who cares?"

"I do. I don't want to make him mad, and I don't want to push Glimmer either."

"Push her? You guys are a thing now right? Don't you want to like, sleep in her bed and never let her go and maybe feel weirdly destructively possessive?"

He looked at her with a face full of growing concern. "No. Catra- no." The last no trailed off as he started walking.

"Have it your way." She started following him again.

They got to Bow’s new room where there were some bookshelves ready for the delivery. Bow knelt down and opened the first box, immediately starting to put the books on the shelf.

Catra sat her box down, and crouched on the floor, watching him with curiosity. "So you're telling me do you don't feel possessive of Sparkles?"

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I respect her. I don't need to possess her."

"That's a novel concept." Catra laid on her back in a fluid motion, throwing her hands behind her head and considered yet another very tall ceiling as a tinge of uncertainty crept back into her mind. "So, like, have you kissed her?"

Bow's back went straight. "We kissed, ok."

"Oh- good for you."

"We've not done anything else yet. I'm taking it slow. Easing into it. I mean, this relationship is kind of new to both of us. We're friends and all, but I have to respect that things are different now."

Catra's ears flicked. "What's different now?"

He looked at her, a little confused. "We're in a relationship."

"Yeah, no duh. You're friends. You were in a relationship before. It's just, you're kissing now."

"No, like a romantic relationship. What we had before was friendship."

Catra blinked at him. "What's the difference?"

He got a very sad look on his face as he turned back to putting books on the shelves. "You know, I'll never forgive the Horde for all they didn't teach you and Adora."

Catra sat up and got intensely close to Bow's face. "What's the difference?"

He pushed her back a bit, gently. "Romantic relationships have more to them."

This was exactly the kind of stuff Catra needed to hear. The missing part of the puzzle in her brain. Something HAD changed between her and Adora. "Like what?"

"Like, kissing, and intimacy, and lovemaking."

Catra's expression was blank.

Bow groaned. "I can't believe I'm the one that has to tell you this. I should call Lance and George back. They did a much better job of this." He sat back and strained to try to find the words they had told him. "Being physical- um- touching and- oh man this is harder than it looked."

Catra was all ears.

He turned to his box of books and started rummaging through them looking for something specific. "Look, I have a book my dad's got me that filled in a lot of the blanks for me. I'm sure it will help the two of you." He pulled out a book and handed it to her.

Catra grabbed it greedily, reading the title aloud. "Relationships, Pleasure, and Lovemaking? That's descriptive." She sat back and flipped open the book, her eyes glancing through the chapter titles. "Oh!"

Bow looked uneasy as Catra flipped through the book. Her face took on a devilish smile that instantly made Bow's stomach churn. It reminded him of old Catra.

"Oh, this is great stuff. Thanks, Arrowboy." She stood up in one fluid motion, the book opened to a particularly juicy chapter as she started to walk out.

"Please don't misuse that," He decided he had to say.

She gave him a dismissive wave as she disappeared through his doors.


	2. Chapter 2

Catra had finished chapters one through five before Adora and Glimmer got back that evening, and she had already formed the start of a plan to figure out if what she and Adora had was a friendship, a romatic relationship, or this other category of friends with benefits. She was particularly interested in the benefits, and the thought of them with Adora made her knees weak. She closed the book once she heard a commotion in the palace that singled the queen and Adora were back.

Catra ran to the mirror, tried on a few smiles, a few winks, some pouts. None of it seemed good enough. She stretched out, put her own hands through her hair, trying to be seductive. It partially worked. She threw her hands down, giving up. She'd have to learn on the job. She knew what to look for anyway. Horde Prime had, basically, given her a short summary of her own response to Adora- dilated pupils, increased heart rate. She just had to see if Adora had those too, about her.

Looking at her own small body, seemingly for the first time in terms of whether Adora liked IT, not just Her. She growled and flexed her claws in and out. No, this was a battle like any other. Adora wasn't the enemy, but the piece of land to be seized. She could do this. She changed tactics in the mirror. Looked her own stupid self in the eye and offered, "You've got this, Wildcat." It was a lame attempt at impersonating Scorpia, who she suddenly wished was there.

She took a breath, tussled her hair, and decided what she had was going to have to work, and headed off to go conquer an Adora.

***

Adora and Glimmer appeared in what used to be the war room only to find that half the palace was there to greet them. Adora was exhausted but did her best to be kind and shake hands. Someone called Glimmer away to handle some court business, and Adora found herself sadly alone among a throng of people.

Someone grabbed her hand, and Adora felt herself being pulled through the crowd before she realized it was Catra pulling her. "Good to see you, too."

Catra barked at the people in front of them till they were clear of the crowd that had now started handing out drinks and cheering. The festive mood of the war being over was a hard one to get rid of, but Adora had seen hundreds of parties of the last few days, and honestly just wanted to be in a quiet place, which is where she found herself after Catra stopped. "Oh, you read my mind," She giggled dumbly realizing Catra had taken her to the gardens, which even at night were nice, and had gotten a lot nicer once they had destroyed Shadow Weaver’s plants.

"You looked tired of people," Catra said, holding both of Adora's hands, and giving her a half-lidded look.

"I am, but it's good to see you."

Catra thought Adora's smile was too sweet, too friendly. She looked into Adora's eyes intently, a little too long, like the book suggested to show interest, and sure enough, Adora's smile was gone. "Catra, what are you doing?"

"I don't know. I'm just admiring your amazing eyes."

"Oh..." Adora's cheeks turned red, even in the dark. That was a good sign.

"I have a proposition for you."

Adora looked a little dumbfounded.

"Have dinner with me tomorrow."

Adora looked confused. It was adorable. "We eat dinner together every day."

"That's not what I mean. A real dinner, out- Alone. Just you and me." Catra had maneuvered Adora close to a wall, and a gentle push to her chest and Adora leaned against the wall. Catra put an arm on the wall next to her. It was supposed to be a sign of dominance, and a healthy possessive gesture. "A date."

"Oh!" The idea had never crossed Adora's mind, but it was now.

"What do you say, Princess? Ready to go out on the town with your former best friend, former worst enemy?"

"Former best friend?"

Catra went in for the kill. "Can't be best friends if we're lovers," And she kissed Adora's hand like a boss.

Adora's eyebrows lifted, her eyes were wide. The word bounced around in her head for a moment as she tried to decern the difference.

Catra leaned in. "If you say no, it'll break my heart. Do you want to break my heart?"

Adora shook her head no slowly, still trying to wrap her head around what was happening.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow."

Adora snapped out of it. "You're coming to bed right?"

"If you want me in your bed."

That made Adora's whole face flush.

Moments later, despite all the big talk, that night was as weird as the one before. Awkward getting ready. Awkward getting into bed. Awkward eye contact. Catra realized Adora was staring at her in the dark. Adora whispered, "Lovers?"

"Lovers," Catra said back. She didn't know why they were whispering. No one was close enough to hear them. It was a habit gained from years of living in barracks.

"Lovers...." Adora repeated, more to herself than to Catra, finally breaking eye contact.

All of Catra's confidence was slowly peeling away as she watched Adora fighting with the concept. The horrible thought flashed through Catra's mind, what if Adora didn't want to be lovers.

Adora looked back, and sheepishly asked, "Catra I feel dumb."

"That's not new."

"What does it mean?"

Catra smiled, her confidence returning. It came with the same small twinge of sadness that Bow must have had for her. She had assumed Adora was better acquainted with all this after spending so much time with normal people. Her poor sweet adorably innocent Adora. "I'll show you, but for now, just sleep." Catra grabbed Adora's arm and rolled to face away, pulling Adora into a position the book called, the Big Spoon.

Adora let it happen, and was a little unsure of it at first, but it felt good. She curled herself around and held Catra tight. It made her feel less weird.

***

The next morning there was a trade agreement meeting that Adora had to get to early. Catra was still asleep and laying across Adora snoring. Adora's eyes opened with a shock as she realized she wasn't going to be able to get up for a while. She lay there debating the pros and cons of getting up and getting ready, compared to letting Catra sleep soundly. It was an impossible choice, and she waited till the last possible moment to push Catra gently off, get dressed, and run out without asking Catra to explain last night. The word and it's meeting hanging in her brain without relief.

Adora arrived late, but took her seat next to Glimmer and quietly apologized. As some mayor from one of the neighboring towns got up to present, Adora's mind back to the new way she and Catra slept last night. It was nice. Really nice. Is that how lovers sleep? Is that what made them lovers?

Glimmer jabbed an elbow in Adora's side and gestured toward the presentation.

Adora apologized again and tried to focus on the presentation about Gross Domestic products, or something. What was infinitely more interesting to her brain was thinking of what a date with Catra would be. The closest thing they had in the Horde was when they stole away to some small place and hid and talked. It had always been in secret, their own little comfort in the middle of Hell. Nothing open. Not eating together where other people could see them.

Bow leaned past Glimmer trying to look Adora in the eye. "Are you ok?"

Adora didn't respond, as her brain was too busy trying to decide if she was excited or scared. At some point in the meeting someone mentioned She-ra, and Adora didn't even look. Glimmer saved the day with another jab, and Adora came to realizing everyone was staring at her. She jumped to and almost pretended she knew what had happened before asking them to repeat themselves.

The meeting ended late, and Glimmer and Bow grabbed Adora by the arms and pulled her out of the room to confront her.

"What is up with you?" Glimmer demanded. "You're brain's a million miles away, and I know there's no more war but these people trust She-ra, and they need your attention, Adora."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mess it up."

Bow stepped forward, "Something is obviously bothering you. Maybe if you talk it through you can focus better."

Yeah, talking to her friends always helped. "Catra asked me out on a date?"

Glimmer and Bow both looked surprised, and both smiled at the same time. "That's great!" Glimmer squealed.

Bow scratched the back of his neck. "Wow, she moves fast."

"What are you going to wear?" Glimmer got in Adora's face, suddenly serious.

Panic set in. "I don't know. I hadn't thought of that. I was just going to go in this." Adora tugged at her uniform jacket.

Bow shook his head. "Adora, this is kind of like Princess Prom. You're supposed to dress up for a date."

"Oh-"

Glimmer squealed and grabbed Adora's elbow dragging her toward her toom. "This will be so fun! It must be so nice that she's taking the initiative and you both don't have this will they or won't they, whose going to do or say something first to break the whole friend routine."

Bow followed with the feeling that Glimmer's tone was revealing something, but he wasn't sure what. 

Adora recognized that Glimmer was less taking to her, and instead indirectly talking to Bow. She looked back to see Bow shrug. The message had not been received.

***

Glimmer emptied her closets and threw dresses toward Adora as the whim caught her.

Adora handed Bow another reject, and he sighed as he offered to Glimmer, "You know, maybe your clothes aren't really Adora's style. What if she wants to wear a pantsuit?"

Glimmer burst at the idea, and in a moment they were at the Brightmoon tailor. Moments later, Adora found herself standing in front of a mirror in a white suit with golden trim. It felt off. She tried to move her arms, and throw a few elbows. "I don't know. This fabric is so- stuffy. How can I fight in this?"

"Adora, you don't need to fight. The war is over. You can just look nice." Glimmer stood next to Adora, admiring her in the mirror.

Adora looked uncomfortable. Bow got up to look at the selection the staff had pulled out of their reserves.

"So, not a suit?"

"No." Adora's shoulders fell. "I'm going to mess this up aren't I?"

"Don't worry. We'll find the perfect thing."

Adora looked back at herself in the mirror. "I'm not going to feel comfortable in anything, and I'm going to mess it up."

Bow came back with a black dress and a white dress. "These are simple, elegant, sleeveless, backless."

Adora gravitated toward the white one, if only because it reminded her of her vision of her perfect future in the dream at the Heart. "This will do." She touched it and felt an immense sense of sadness well up. Not just memories of what happened sneaking up, but a feeling that things weren't as certain as she had thought. If there was something beyond friendship for them, it meant there was something else that could be messed up. A whole world of possibilities that she might not be good at.

"Dresses aren't supposed to make you sad," Bow offered.

"It's not the dress." Adora realized she still hadn't told them everything about what happened. She hadn't told them she dreamt of a future with Catra. Her one selfish want that ended up being reciprocated. It's hard to top saving the world with a kiss. What else could there be?

"Adora we lost you again," Glimmer said, waving a hand in front of Adora's face.

Adora grabbed the dress and walked toward the dressing room to go try it on, determined. This wasn't any different than fighting a war. Sometimes, you didn't know what the outcome would be, but you trudged on anyway. If she was willing to die in the Heart, then she should at least be willing to mess up with Catra with whatever this was. She could be a new kind of brave for Catra.

Bow and Glimmer exchanged a worried look as their friend disappeared into the dressing room.

A few minutes later, Adora came out, glanced in the mirror to check if the dress fit at her shoulders, her hips. Done. "I'm going back to my room to get ready. I'll see you guys later."

Glimmer got up to stop her, to comfort her, but Bow stopped her with a gentle hand. "I think she just needs space."

Glimmer looked back to him to contest, but when their eyes met, she blushed.

Bow pulled back with a jerk, his face uncomfortable. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-" He didn't know what to say. He didn't know why he apologized. They stood there for an awkward moment.

Glimmer felt tears starting in her eyes, and turned and ran before she cried in front of him.

Bow put out a hand to stop her, but she had blinked away leaving just sparkling dust in her wake. He felt sick to his stomach.

***

Glimmer appeared the only place she could think of to go, the garden. Once she was sure she was alone, she let herself cry.

Catra heard sobs and soon found Glimmer sobbing into her hands against a tree. Comforting had never come easy to her. She was tempted to quietly walk away, and let the poor girl cry about whatever it was, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. That was the problem with having friends. Eventually, you ended up caring about them.

She knelt down next to Glimmer and put a hand on her shoulder. "There there."

Glimmer screamed at the touch, taken by surprise, and Catra jumped back her tail straight and fluffed.

Glimmer quickly apologized and wiped her eyes. "You scared me."

"Sorry. I'm still working on this whole..." She gestured wildly to indicate she was working on everything. She looked back to Glimmer and offered, "Did someone hurt you? Do you want me to kill them?"

Glimmer took a deep breath, trying to gain her composure. "I can't tell if you're joking."

Catra clicked her tongue, winked, and offered with a thumbs up, "Then mission accomplished, your Highness."

That actually made Glammer smile a little. Catra felt a weird warmth in her chest at it. "So what happened?"

"Bow... he...." She couldn't get it out before tears started again.

"Boy Problems," Catra said it plainly like she didn't just read about it.

Glimmer nodded, trying to hold back the sobs.

Catra scooted closer and put an arm over Glimmer's shoulder. "Look, you're better than he is. His loss. You're the Queen of Bright Moon. You can have any guy you want."

Glimmer stopped crying to look Catra in the eye, "He didn't break up with me!"

"Oh." Catra took her arm off Glimmer's shoulders.

"It's worse than that. He touched my shoulder, and I... He... He flinched when I looked at him and apologized."

Catra's nose scrunched up. "That's- weird right?"

"I know. It's like he didn't want to touch me, or he didn't want to look me in the eye? Or something. I don't know. Just the look on his face- I didn't want him to see me cry."

Catra looked off into the distance. "Never show weakness, or else they'll pounce on it."

Glimmer's shoulders fell, "Catra, no."

"I'm trying to make you feel better."

"It's sweet. Thanks." She sniffled.

Catra sighed. "He probably got spooked by his own dumb self." In the moment she said it, Catra remembered her own playfight with Adora, stopping herself as she thought of ripping the woman she loved to shreds just to keep her. "Sometimes, the fear of being wrong can be harder than being wrong, you know?"

Glimmer took one final sniffle and looked at Catra amazed. "Who are you? Where did the real Catra go?"

Catra shrugged. "She changed because she had to. What's it to you, Sparkles?"

Glimmer rubbed her eye and leaned in, rubbing their shoulders together. "Do you think he loves me?"

"Sure. He doesn't seem to care about anyone else. He's probably just taking it slow... out of respect. I'm sure he's just scared of messing up."

Glimmer smiled and nudged Catra. "I never expected, of all people, for you to be some kind of saving grace here."

"Hey, I do what I can.... also I have a favor to ask?"

"I should have known."

Catra faced Glimmer eyes wide. "I need a place to stay tonight."

"What?"

"I've got this date with Adora all planned out. Fancy dinner at a nice place. Flirting all over the place. A chance to switch the script from friends to something else. The problem is, the last time I did it we had to sleep in the same bed and she-"

Glimmer was listening with bated breath.

Catra was tempted to embellish, make it into what it sounded like it was going to be, but she lost heart. "She got all nervous. Started asking questions I'm not ready to answer, you know?"

Glimmer looked ahead like she was looking miles away. "I get that."

"So I need to reeve her up and let her stew in it. I need a place to stay tonight at least. Let the whole want thing fester a little."

Glimmer's brow furrowed. "Can't you just sleep in one of the empty rooms? We've got a few. There's the one we always use as a prison."

Catra rolled her eyes. "SOMEONE let Bow move into that one, so-"

"Oh..."

"I mean if you want I could ask Bow if I could sleep in his room?" Catra taunted.

"NO!" Glimmer stood up, fist clenched. "You'll stay with me. I'll do this for repayment of your saving my life."

"It's not exactly equivalent."

"SHHHHH. Are you going to take it or not?"

Catra stood up with a smile and offered a hand to shake. Glimmer took it. "It's a deal."

***

Adora got the address secondhand, from a guard that seemed put out at being the go-between. She stood outside a place that looked too fancy. It was tall, with white lights and golden trim. The building looked out of place fancy like it was trying to out-compete the buildings within a mile radius. It felt weird to be there without her friends. She hadn't realized how accustomed to them she had become.

Like magic, Catra appeared around a corner, striding in confidence. Adora caught her breath as she realized Catra was dressed in the same suit she wore to princess prom.

"Hey Adora," fell off her tongue like honey, as she slid into Adora's close space.

"Hey Catra," Adora said, a little unexpectedly dizzy. "Did you get that from the Fright Zone?"

Catra light up. "Actually, Scorpia sent it. I told her I was wooing you, and she sent it expedited delivery."

Adora's brows furrowed in concentration as she took in everything that was being presented before her, and the word. "Wooing?"

Catra took her hand and bowed. "I'll show you what it means." She gestured toward the building. "You first, Princess."

Adora let herself be lead toward the building. Quietly she told Catra, "You're talking weird."

"I've learned some new terms."

"How?"

Catra kissed Adora's knuckles as they entered the restraint. "I told you, I'll show you."

They were seated at a prominent curved booth that was big enough for eight people. It sat among plants and was semi-private. Still, the restaurant was sprawling with a fountain in the middle and a few dozen tables that were all full of people in formal dress. Catra sat down, leaned her arm on the back of the booth, and crossed her leg over the other. "Impressed yet?"

Adora was, at first, bewildered by the whole place, but focused her attention and her gray-blue eyes on Catra. "What did you do to get this? Did you kill someone?"

"Why is that everyone's first guess?"

"I don't mean it that way," Adora's shoulders fell as she took it all in. "I just- I'm glad I didn't come in my uniform. It would have been out of place."

Catra took a deep inhale, closed her eyes, and admitted, "I love the dress by the way." She opened her eyes and locked eye contact. "You look like a Goddess."

The intensity of the look affected Adora more than she expected. A small amused smile crossed her lips.

"That's what I wanted to see." Catra leaned in, resting her chin on her hand, but still maintaining eye contact.

"You're being weird... It's good?"

Catra leaned, back, closed her eyes, and threw her hands up. "Sorry. I'm being too honest. I wanted to make today special."

Adora smiled a little and leaned in. "Speaking of special, how did YOU get this place?"

Catra shrugged with a knowing smile. "Look, It wasn't my first choice, but when I mentioned it was YOU, suddenly word got around and every place started making offers. Honestly, if you want, you could eat free at the best restaurants every week for the rest of your life. This place was just the nicest of the places on the list. The people love you, Adora. I don't blame them."

Adora's look got serious. "Catra, you can't exploit my name recognition for your dates. That's unethical." That last bit was said with the slightest of smiles.

Catra got a wide, evil, and sultry smile as she leaned forward and regarded Adora with every inch of her heart. "Whoever implied, Princess, that I had ethics?"

Under that look, Adora felt flush.

The waiter came, gave them menus, and Adora was glad for the break-in eye contact if only to regain her composure. This was the best kind of torture.

The rest of the night was easy. Too easy. They slid into the conversation about Bow and Glimmer, and their drama. They exchanged theories on what in the world was going on there. They both ended up laughing. It was nice to take all that tension and release it in laughter, with good food, and an interested ear.

Catra had never, in all her life, felt so powerful. Just, having Adora there, laughing, hanging on her word. Adora kept scooting closer on the bench, and Catra followed, till they were sitting next to each other, Catra's arm around Adora's shoulder, their fingers interlocking.

It was too late into the night, and Adora was flush with the beautify of the touch. "This has been really nice."

Catra got serious and moved Adora so they could look eye to eye. "This is what I want with you, Adora. Just, happy times and dinners out, and great conversation. After all, we've been through, all we gave up, this is what we deserve." Their faces were close. Adora half closed her eyes. Catra nearly kissed her, but remembered the plan and placed her thumb over Adora's lips to close them. She closed her eyes and touched their foreheads together. "Not tonight. I want you to remember the food and conversation, and this feeling. Ok?"

Adora was light-headed, and a little surprised, but nodded.

Catra opened her eyes, to make eye contact and took a breath before declaring, "I'm not sleeping in your room tonight."

"What?"

"Hear me out. Things are different now. We need to make a new life together, and tonight, of all nights, I need to be somewhere else." She couldn't help the sappy smile on her face as she raised Adora's chin so they could look eye to eye. "So you can miss me a little, but not like before. A new kind of missing."

Adora couldn't hold back the small chuckle that erupted, and with a breath and a sigh, she relented.

"Thanks, Princess." Catra pulled away and got up from the table. She grabbed Adora's hand, and kissed it before offering, "Make sure to miss me tonight."

Before Adora could answer, Catra had vanished. I will, she realized to herself. Oh no, I'm going to miss her.

It wasn't till Adora was in her own bed, alone, and touching the spot where Catra would have slept that she realized how much missing Catra would hurt. She lay there replaying the night and desperately wanted that stupid cat in bed with her to keep it going. Keep the conversation going, or something other than conversation.

She laid on her back and wondered if that was part of the plan. Brillant.

***

Catra burst into Glimmer's room, drunk off her own suave debonair.

Glimmer had stayed up, waiting in anticipation. "How was it?"

Catra couldn't stop smiling, crossing the room, and falling back onto the mattress Glimmer had put in her room for her guest. Catra sighed, and offered, "I think I'm in love."

"Well no duh! What about Adora? How did she take it?"

Catra took a deep breath in her nose, out her mouth. "I don't know, but I think it was good. It was different. It definitely wasn't just friendly."

Glimmer sighed and laid back on her own bed. "Oh, it sounds romantic."

"It was." Catra took a deep sniff of the sleeve of her suit because the smell of Adora was still on it.

"I wish Bow would do something like that. Maybe I would know if he actually liked me or not." Glimmer rolled on her side, curling into herself, about to cry and not wanting to give Catra the satisfaction.

Catra stood up, and sauntered over, riding her high mood. "Why wait, Highness? Take what you want." Catra dramatically offered her hand to help Glimmer up.

Glimmer eyed it with suspicion but took it anyway.

Catra pulled Glimmer into the embrace she was imagining pulling Adora into. She started waltzing her around the room. "Be the flirting you want to see in the world. Why wait for him to make the first move when you could?"

"Did you drink anything?" She let herself be pulled into it too easily.

Catra shook her head, eyes shut in pure bliss of the memory. "I'm telling you, make the first move. Tell Bow how you feel, and show him a good time. Take him dancing." She led Glimmer across the floor spinning to imaginary music. "Sweep him off his feet." She dipped Glimmer, the way she had dipped Adora, and then she made the mistake of opening her eyes.

Glimmer's face was flushed in a mix of shock and arousal.

Catra couldn't look away, and the vulnerable response sparked a flame in her that lighted instantly. A beat passed, and she smiled knowingly. "Oh Sparkles, I had no idea."

"Shut up!" Glimmer yelled, squirming to get out. She stopped trying when Catra chuckled. It was too much.

"Honestly, if I didn't have the hottest girlfriend on the planet that I've been friends with for years, I'd say yes."

"This isn't fair. Let me up."

Catra's smile turned to amusement, rather than torture, and she helped Glimmer up to standing. "Honestly, I'm kind of relieved. How weird would it be if I only felt that way for Adora."

Glimmer pushed her away, lightly. "It's not like that. I just.... I'm touch starved."

Catra couldn't help but laugh. "YOU? You and your best friend squad can't stop hugging and touching each other."

Glimmer's anger faded to sadness. "That's not what I mean."

The look on Glimmer's face sucked all the life out of the room. Catra's good mood was gone. She had done something wrong. She stepped back, letting her back hit the wall and slid down to the floor. "Sorry... I didn't mean to- do- that to you?"

Glimmer watched her, and considered storming off, but found it more compelling to take the spot next to Catra on the floor. Catra put her arm around her and pulled her in. "So Arrowboy's not flirting with you?"

Glimmer shook her head against Catra's shoulder.

"I'm sorry then. I didn't mean to taunt you."

"At least you didn't recoil in horror."

Catra shook her head, no she wouldn't. At the moment though, she felt protective. "He's a fool for not being bolder. If I've learned anything today, sometimes it's worth it."

Glimmer was crying, getting her salty tears all over Catra's suit coat. It was fine. It was worth it.

"I'm glad you and Adora had a good time."

"Me too."

Glimmer cuddled in, feeling odd comfort in Catra's confidence. "Is it ok if we stay here a while?"

"I'm pretty sure you're the Queen. You can do anything you want." She said it seriously. She meant it.

The next morning, Glimmer woke up on the floor leaning against the wall, drool on her face, with Catra asleep in her lap still in her suit.

"Oh no," Glimmer muttered as she realized she wasn't going to be able to get up for a while. Her legs already were asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be smut.

Adora was up early. Eager. She was already in her practice gear shadow sparring when the first guards came in to start their morning workouts. It wasn't hard to get a sparring partner. She felt ready. She had a breakfast full of protein. She was going to feel the burn, and-

Catra and Glimmer came in together, laughing.

Adora's heart sank for reasons she would never fully understand. The thought that had flashed through her brain was, that's where Catra slept last night. Adora turned away, trying hard to focus on her sparring opponent as her brain flew off to two years ago, on her first night in Brightmoon, when she had snuck into Glimmer’s room to sleep in her bed. Adora got punched in the face the moment she tried to convince herself that the situations were the same, or different. She couldn't remember as she got off the floor, a little dazed.

Juliet, head of the guard and general of the rebellion, hopped on her feet, as light as a feather as she offered. "That was sloppy."

Adora stood up, shook her head, and tried to focus on the fight. She was being stupid. She wanted Glimmer and Catra to get along. They were all friends, weren’t they?

Bow showed up in his workout clothes, and his eyes went straight to Glimmer and Catra laughing to themselves in the corner. Adora wasn't worried till she saw he was worried. She got punched again and kicked in the stomach.

Juliet hopped and backed off. "Look, if you're not going to defend yourself, I'm not going to just stand here and pound on you."

Adora tried to wave it off. She was fine. Surely. Nothing was wrong. She squared up and teased out a jab and cross. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked awful like Catra helping put Glimmer's hair in a pony-tail, and she turned to check. Out of her peripheral vision, Adora saw a punch coming and felt a fire that lit her fist to fire back.

Juliet was hit squire on the chin, and out for the count.

"AODRA! What did you do?" Glimmer yelled from the other side of the room.

Other guards who were sparring stopped and rushed forward.

"I didn't mean to," Adora offered, trying to help.

Juliet woke up with a start, asking what had happened, as her crew carried her off to the medic.

Adora ripped off her gloves and staggered out of the training area breathing hard as much from the exertion as she was from the adrenaline.

Glimmer rushed forward, grabbing Adora by the shirt. "What is up with you! First the meeting, now this?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on." But she did. She looked up at Catra, a look of slight betrayal.

Catra responded with a wink and a blown kiss.

Adora was all kinds of confused. It was a cute look, and committing near murder on the sparring pad was also kind of hot in Catra's opinion. It a least showed she cared.

Bow had stood in the corner of the room, his bow in hand, and watched the whole thing in stunned silence. He developed resolve as Glimmer was berating Adora, and he moved forward and reached out to Glimmer's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on her, she didn't-"

Glimmer turned her ire to him. "Oh shut up!"

He backed off. "I'm only trying to calm you down."

"I don't need to be calmed down," Glimmer screamed. "This has gone on long enough!"

Everyone was pretty sure she was talking about Adora's lack of focus, but oh boy, did Glimmer surprise everyone by turning to Bow with tears in her eyes. "Why won't you touch me?"

He blinked in shock. "What?"

"The other day- You touched me and recoiled. What? Am I repugnant to you?"

"NO! No, that's not it."

"Then what is it?! I'm tired of trying to guess. Do you love me or not?"

Bow's eyes went wide. "I love you."

"Then show it!"

Bow clenched his fists and threw this bow and quiver on the ground. Without a word, he grabbed her into a deep and passionate kiss.

Adora just stood there, looking confused, and Catra moved up to put her arm around Adora's waste. "Don't interrupt them. They need to hash this out."

Bow and Glimmer's hands were all over each other, mouths desperate, releasing years of pent up desire. Catra pulled Adora out to save Sparkles and Arrowboy some face.

Outside in the hall, Adora was shell shocked. She crumpled to a squat on the floor, covering her head in her hands. "What was that? It's too early in the morning for all this."

Catra glanced in, and smiled at the veracity they were at each other’s clothes before looking away. "Pressure eventually bursts."

Adora groaned. "I hurt Juliet."

"She'll be fine. You weren't all She-ra on her. She just got knocked out. It's one single concussion at best." She walked over to Adora and pulled her chin up to look at her. "Let’s go get cleaned up and let them bang this out."

"What?"

Catra swept Adora up and moved her on. "Don't think too much about it."

***

Adora felt bad, and she expected to walk into her room with Catra and to have a talk about her level of distraction or at least about what in the world was going on with their friends. She walked in, threw her towel on the floor, and turned to talk to Catra only to see her pulling her shirt off. Adora looked away, her face hot.

"I'm taking a shower. You wanna join me?"

Adora chuckled nervously. "Sure. No problem. I'll just-" She turned back to see Catra shedding the last of her clothes in a path on the floor toward the shower. Catra looked over her shoulder with half-lidded eyes and a flick of her tail, inviting, as she turned on the water and the room filled with steam.

Adora felt the way she did right before a fight, but the feeling was much lower. Her mouth was dry. Her heart was racing and she could feel it pumping on nearly every inch of her skin. She took the first step toward the shower and stopped. The smallest hint of doubt crept up. They had taken showers before. It shouldn't be a problem. This was different. She started to smile a little. Different was good. Scary, but good. She ripped off her shirt and hopped toward the shower while shirking off her pants and the rest of her clothes.

Inside the always too big shower, Adora saw Catra washing and again, turned her head.

Catra was purring. "Hey Adora, could you help me wash my back?"

Yes. Yes, she would. She had to be brave. She moved closer to Catra, still looking away, till they bumped and Adora let out a gasp.

Catra handed her the soap.

This was not something they had done before. Horde showers were regulated. Two minutes per cadet. Speed was important. Adora had, since being at Brightmoon, only taken two-minute showers. This was officially was the longest she had been in a shower her whole life, and time seemed to slow down as she started to rub Catra's back. Just such a simple touch felt like she was running a marathon.

Catra leaned back, pressing her body against Adora's. "I know I asked you to wash my back, but you can touch whatever you want, at least for a bit."

"I think I'm going to die," Adora said breathlessly as she realized Catra had made it painfully easy to see her front from over her shoulder.

"Please don't... That said it would be nice to finally say I killed She-ra. It's just your reputation that will be destroyed when people learn it's because you took a shower."

Adora got a stupid smile and laughed at that as she ventured her hands on Catra's hips.

"Safe choice."

Adora felt lightheaded. This was very different. What if her wish at the Heart had been this? She would have died on the spot of embarrassment. She was so caught up in just being with Catra in the future, she didn't even consider this was possible. A million times better than just wrestling with each other on the ground and getting weird feelings.

"You know, I wasn't even sure you liked me like this," Catra chuckled as Adora's hands started getting braver.

"Wanting things is hard for me," Adora whispered in Catra's ear.

"Oh, believe me, I know."

Adora didn't know what she was doing, but her hands seemed like they did. It felt good, whatever she was doing.

Catra turned around suddenly, an evil grin on her face as she slowly pushed Adora back to the wall. "Don't get too adventurous. That's not on the itinerary today."

"What's not?" Adora's face got sad and pouty. "There's an itinerary?"

Catra kissed her, pressing her front to Adora's.

Adora melted at the kiss and nearly slipped, but Catra's arms around her kept her up. "Careful, Princess. I don't want you bashing your head in." Catra nuzzled into Adora's neck, grazing her skin with her fangs. Adora whimpered. Catra extended her claws just a little, and carefully gripped Adora's bare back. Another whimper. "If you want me to stop with anything, you've got to do something besides make cute little noises." She kissed Adora's neck.

Catra's hand grazed over Adora's chest, and the whimper turned into a moan that vaguely sounded like Adora calling Catra's name, but she lacked the brainpower to form the word properly.

"You're wound up like a spring, you know that?" Catra's other hand touched Adora's muscled stomach, and she was surprised herself with how good it felt. "Like you're on a hair-trigger. Just the slightest thing, and you'll pop."

Adora nearly slipped again, but caught herself against the wall, breathing heavily as Catra's hand slowly moved down.

"SHIT!' Adora yelped.

"I can stop if you want." It was really nice to hear Adora cuss or to make her do it.

"NO! ... No... Don't... I...." Words weren't working. She could communicate, with her mouth, just not with words at the moment. She kissed Catra deeply, feverishly. It felt like she lost all will power. The kiss helped ground her, helped her and Catra develop a rhythm that was mounting a pressure that Adora was scared of. It really did feel like she was going to die if she let it tip.

Catra smiled against her lips. "It won't hurt."

"Shut up," Adora groaned, not wanting to take the tauntings at a moment like this.

Catra's hand speed up, and it caught Adora by surprise. Their rhythm was broken, and so was she. She felt like she burst, and then shuddered in waves, and a sound erupted from her that was guttural and primal, and foreign to her.

Catra giggled, as she helped hold Adora up by leaning in. "That sounded good."

It felt great. "I need- to lay down."

"You don't want to get cleaned up first." Catra glanced at the soap still in Adora's hands.

Adora dropped the soap, and couldn't help the content smile that crossed her face. "I can't. I think I died."

A few minutes later, and they were both laying on the bed with bathrobes on. Catra was on her side, propping her head up with her hand, still reveling in the glow Adora still had.

"Soooooo, what was that?" Adora said with a playful chuckle.

"Bow let me borrow a book about lovemaking."

"Bow? Lovemaking?"

"It was all about relationships, attraction, and-" She looked Adora in the eye and traced her finger on Adora's jaw "pleasure."

"Pleasure? Hu..."

"I'll let you borrow it if you want."

"Yeah, sure."

***

Catra left Adora alone in her room to read. It's how she always was with studying like with everything else, one hundred and ten percent invested. As much as Catra could have spent the whole day laying in bed and basking in Adora's glow, she decided it would look weird if she just watched Adora read all day.

She still felt possessive and decided to make a statement by choosing to wear Adora's shirt. It was ever slightly too big on her, but people would get the idea. She headed out into a world brighter than she could have imagined, feeling what she could only express as happiness. Who knew this was possible?

She found herself making way toward the garden, and once there she saw Sparkles sitting at a bench, looking disheveled and a little tired.

Catra plopped down next to her without asking. "How did it go?"

Glimmer let a smile cross her face. "I love him." She slowly turned to Catra, a mischievous look on her face.

Catra sensed something coming. "What happened?"

"My dad walked in. Bow nearly died. There was some yelling." She looked forward, shocked. "I think I yelled at my dad. I told him to stop treating me like a kid."

Catra got a big amused smile. "Now that's some drama that probably needed to happen."

"Bow yelled at him too. Told him we were in love." She got a sparkle in her eye. "He said we were in love... to my dad." She turned to look at Catra and noticed the shirt.

Catra chuckled, throwing her head back as she leaned back on the bench. "Oh, this old thing? Just wearing my girlfriend’s clothes. No biggie."

"So where's Adora?"

"She's tired, and probably won't be joining us for a while."

Glimmer chuckled, "Poor Adora...."

***

The day passed, and no one seemed to notice that Adora wasn't around because there was too much tension with the fight that morning. Dinner was spent in awkward silence. Bow and Glimmer held hands the whole time out of defiance.

Catra was not going to sit around and watch this drama play out. She got up to leave and heard Micah start on an apology. She was certainly not going to stick around for that.

She headed back to where she was sure Adora was going to be, back in their room. Catra opened the door to find Adora at her desk, surrounded by papers, a board put up behind her with post its and pieces of string. She was frantically flipping through, ‘the book’, focused too intently.

“Oh no... What are you doing?”

Adora stood, as if at attention. “I’m making a battle plan.” She looked cute, excited.

Catra moved closer, realizing the papers had pictures, drawings of... her with certain zones circled in red, or marked out. They were numbered. She slowly sat down on the bed, looking at the absolute mess Adora was. “You’re- making a battle plan for sex?”

Adora blushed and quickly started gathering the papers. “NO! Yes? This isn’t fair. You had days to plan your attack.”

Catra crossed her legs and leaned back on her arm. “Honestly, I don’t see why I expected anything different from you.”

Adora glared. “Are you judging me?”

“No, honestly, I kind of what to see where this leads. Tell me what you got so far.”

“No! I’ll lose the element of surprise!”

“Oh Adora, you lost that a long time ago."

Adora glared at her and stood up defiant. “I’m going to win this, just you watch.”

Catra couldn’t help but smile. “I can’t wait. Just win all over me, baby.”

Adora turned bright red and backed down to sit. “That’s not fair.”

“Fine. I can see you need time. I’ll sleep somewhere else tonight. Maybe I’ll go cuddle up to Sparkles.”

Adora tried hard not to look up at Catra, trying not to betray the sad “no” her heart was screaming.

“You’re a terrible actor. I see sleeping with Glimmer’s a sensitive subject.” She seethed with guilty pleasure watching Adora squirm. She didn't even try to hide her own blush.

Adora stood back up, fists clenched. “No! You’re staying here, and I’m going to-” Adora froze. This was what she had been agonizing over. How do you start? What do you do first? What opening do you use? What middle game? How did you know when you entered the end game? Why could she think of nothing but chess metaphors?

“Going to what, Adora?” Catra let every word drip off her tongue.

“Going to-” She stepped around the desk, her brows furrowing into resolve. “Lay down!” She commanded.

Catra dramatically fell back, throwing an arm above her head in a mock swoon.

Adora moved quickly to tower over her. “I can do this.”

Catra started chuckling. “Are you giving yourself a pep talk before sex?”

This was not going well. Regroup. Reform. Restrategize. She climbed awkwardly on top of her girlfriend, and her mind blanked. What came next? Should she kiss her? No, they've done that before. It needed to be different.

Catra loved every minute of it. “Don’t stop now, Princess. You’re doing so well.” The sarcasm was palpable.

Adora grunted in frustration. She tried to shift her weight, and instead pinched Catra’s side with her knee against the mattress, and Catra yelped before bursting to laughter. “Sorry-” Adora said sheepishly.

Catra’s smile widened. “Oh no, a little bit of pain is fine. Next, why don’t you accidentally pull my hair?”

Adora's furrow in her brow got deeper. “You’re not taking this seriously.”

“Of course I am. Look, so serious.” She made an exaggerated frown.

Adora leaned forward, hitting the bed on the sides of Catra’s head, causing her to look up in shock. “Stop it.” She said it through gritted teeth.

Catra couldn't stop smiling and wiggled a little under Adora. “What’s wrong? Is your strategy working? I think so. Look, I’m practically writhing in ecstasy.”

Adora lowered her head to break eye contact. Anger was bubbling up in her throat. She wanted to throw Catra off the bed. Instead, the anger turned into a choking sob.

It took Catra a moment to realize Adora’s shoulders weren’t shaking in laughter. It wasn’t till Adora couldn’t hold back the sobs that Catra freaked out. “No no no no!” She dropped all pretense and grabbed Adora’s face to look at her. Tears were bubbling and falling freely. “Oh Adora, I’m sorry. What happened?”

Adora sobbed, and collapsed on top of Catra, wrapping her arms around her, and burying her face in the bed next to Catra's head. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she screamed into the mattress.

Catra hugged her back, trying to give reassuring back rubs. “I know. That’s what I thought we were doing. Figuring it out.”

Adora pulled off Catra, and laid down on the bed beside her, and tried to take a deep breath, but the crying wouldn’t stop. “There’s just too much. Literally, a whole side of life that I didn’t know about till today, and I don’t know what I'm supposed to do.”

Catra rolled to her side to face Adora, giving her the most earnest eyes. “I’m sooooo sorry for messing with you.”

“You read the book once and you act like an old pro.” Adora covered her face with her hands as she felt more tears welling up in her eyes. “I’ve read it and re-read it and I can’t even flirt.”

“I thought you were flirting... in your own way. I mean, it’s kind of cute that you were drawing pictures of me. That’s pretty flirty.”

Adora was quiet as she just tried to breathe. Tried to regain her composure. “How in the world did you know what I wanted? What I liked? I didn’t even know.”

Catra reached forward, stroking Adora’s hair. “I didn’t know. I just guessed. I just did what I thought sounded fun for me.”

“It’s not fair. I don’t know what you like. I don’t think I can guess.” She pulled her hands away and met Catra’s eyes, determination trying to peek through her tear-soaked face. “What if you like high heels? Or shoes, or feet? Maybe you’re into risky stuff. Maybe you don’t like half the things in that book. What if I try the wrong ones and you think I’m bad at it? What if you’re not even into me? What if you actually like guys?”

Catra, eyes wide in literal shock, took Adora’s hands. “I can't believe I'm having to say this, but I’m into you, Adora. I literally fucked you this morning in the shower. Forget the book. I want whatever you want to do. I’m going to like it because it’s you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You could cover me in mud and spit on me and I’ll be honest, I’d be into it, but only if it was you and I knew you liked it.”

Adora smiled at the idea of it, then stopped smiling. "Wait, is that what you want?"

"No, Adora. Look, we’ve got time to figure things out. There’s no pressure to be perfect immediately. I’m not going to leave you for something as stupid as not immediately knowing what specific kinks I have.”

The smile that crossed Adora’s face was so sweet, pure, Catra thought.

Adora closed her eyes and pulled Catra close. They lay there a moment, just breathing, being with each other. Adora slowly reached up, touching Catra just under her ear, behind her jaw, a spot she’s known about since they were kids. She gently started scratching, and Catra started purring and leaned into it. Adora reached up with the other hand, on Catra’s other side of her head. Catra closed her eyes and sank into the feeling. Adora opened her eyes to watch as she deepened the scratching. Seeing Catra blush as she lost herself a little was exhilarating.

“This isn’t fair,” Catra purred. “This wasn’t in the book.”

Adora pulled her into a kiss, still scratching, and felt Catra gasp against her lips at the sudden contact. Adora moved one hand to get Catra by her middle and pull her in so they could be closer. Catra leaned in toward the bed into the hand that was left, her eyes rolled back as her back arched.

Adora saw Catra’s neck exposed, and couldn’t help but kiss it. Catra whimpered. Adora pulled back just enough to breathe on her neck. “I should have realized it before. How many little places do you have that you can’t scratch? What about between your shoulder blades?”

Adora’s free hand moved to Catra’s back. Catra’s purr grew into a rumble between them.

“You know, there’s this other spot, just above your tail.”

Catra tried to gain control of herself. “Don’t you dare,” but she couldn’t make it come out commanding. She was horrified to realize it sounded like she was pleading.

Adora smiled against Catra’s neck, feeling that immense sense of pride at figuring out the puzzle. Her hand moved to Catra’s lower back and started scratching through her own shirt.

Catra wanted the shirt off. She wanted Adora’s hands all over her with nothing in the way.

Adora guessed what Catra’s sudden movement was about, and she quickly found the shirt's edge. She pushed the shirt up as they kissed. Adora pulled it up, till it was wrapped around Catra's wrists.

“Shit Adora,” Catra mumbled against her lips.

Adora pinned her arms down with one hand, and she rolled over ontop and pulled back to look at her girlfriend.

Catra’s eyes were wide, her cheeks and chest flush as she realized what had happened. The smile that crossed Adora’s face was smug.

“Do you like being manhandled?” Adora said with a sense of self-worth. Adora leaned in, letting her lips just brush against Catra’s chest.

Catra’s back arched into it, completely involuntary. This wasn’t fair.

“I’m tempted to leave you here, let you stew in it. Maybe leave you wanting me. What do you say? Do you want to miss me Catra?"

“Please don’t,” Catra pleaded so softly and weakly.

The sound of it made Adora’s body ache. This was easier than she had thought it would be. No plan. Just wing it. Plans always fell apart anyway. She could focus on what she wanted. She moved to kiss Catra's stomach and just below her belly button. She traced Catra’s abs with her lips and breathed her in. It was shockingly exhilarating to be so close, in such an intimate area.

“Fuck Adora,” Catra panted.

“Is that a curse or a request?” Adora said with a smile looking up.

“BOTH!”

Adora shushed her, making sure the sound of it tickled Catra’s stomach. “It’s my turn, remember?” Oh, this was fun, Adora thought. Adora moved back to Catra’s chest, sucking and licking, turning Catra into a mewing mess. Adora quickly moved to the top of Catra's pants and pulled them down to expose more of her hips. She took the time to scratch Catra’s sides along the way, assuming her hair would have felt weird after being freed. It sounded like it was just what Catra wanted, and Adora got curious. Adora remembered something in chapter seven about sexual response and decided to check if Catra was as turned on as she seemed. She moved her hand between the girl’s legs and accidentally touched maybe a bit too gentle.

It pushed Catra over, and she gripped the mattress with her claws, ripping the fabric easily as her body shuddered.

Adora watched in wonder and shock at how much of a hair-trigger Catra had been turned into. "And you thought I was wound too tight."

Catra finished riding it out, and yelled “FUCK!” And breathed out as she had never taken a breath in her life. "It's not my fault. I've been on the verge since this morning."

Adora, warm, happy, laid back next to her girlfriend and watched her panting, closing her eyes, and just reveling in it. “I think I win.”

“It’s a tie,” Catra huffed. Honestly, maybe Adora did win. She wasn’t expecting to lose that much control so quickly.

“I guess we could make a point system,” Adora said absentmindedly as she started thinking up the chart, and where to put it where Bow and Glimmer wouldn't see it and ask questions.

Catra turned, and pulled in close, feeling waves of those feel-good chemicals the book talked about. “You’re overthinking it.”


End file.
